OLD COLWYN EAST RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION
Councillor Brian Cossey 13th August 2003
Minute of a Talk by Councillor Brian Cossey, on the Cabinet System of Local Government to the Association on 13 th August 2003
Mr Cossey introduced himself as the Cabinet member having the Environment Portfolio responsible for County Council Services to the community, in jovial style; he said “if it has holes in it it is my responsibility, roads, toilets and so on”. He introduced Councillor David Cowans also present, as the Cabinet member – Finance and Resources and Councillor Glyn Jones Cabinet member for Community Safety.
He produced a number of leaflets for people to take away:
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Guide to the Cabinet which gave photos of all members with their portfolios
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How to contact your County Councillor again this gave photos of the 59 County Council members and their contact details.
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He then went on to talk about the cabinet system. He described that the old style council meetings used to take place every eight weeks with all the 59 members present with the agendas going to the County Council who could refer matters.
It was difficult in those days to get anything moving. Conwy County Borough Council then responded to a suggestion that they might like to run a cabinet system of government.
The Cabinet is made up of 10 County Councillors from the 59 elected. These 10 officials are paid a salary and it is their job to formulate policy for Council Officers to put into action.
Once a month, the Cabinet meets and if the other 49 members do not want to object to the decisions made at the meetings it becomes policy.
There have been comments that the other 49 members feel left out of the process but they have very important duties as all members sit on at least one of the scrutiny committees.
Mr Cossey said that the Cabinet system speeds up the processes of government. He also said that they were not good in heralding the good things that they do. He pointed to the well known ‘fact’ that the council were committed to closing all the nursing homes and turning out all the residents, as reported in the papers. Instead they were committed to forming ‘centres of excellence’ such as ‘Llys Elian’.
In Education they are fully committed to the three schools private finance initiative which will bring great improvements.
Recycling is another area where there has to be movement in a short time scale. Britain we were told has not done very much at all in this direction and are on the verge of being fined by the European Parliament. Westminster has threatened to fine the Welsh Assembly which has in turn threatened sanctions to Conwy.
Were County Councils to be responsible for housing in the future, were they set to take over the Traffic Warden function with the advent of the decision to decriminalise on street parking? The prospect of the income from 60,000 parking fines a year set the Cabinet pulses racing, only from the point of view of raising money to provide services of course.
Mr Cossey produced a number of thick reports which he used to illustrate what he and his Cabinet colleagues had to be fully conversant with in order to do their jobs properly.
A resident asked ‘You are very busy but you have a vast amount of officers working for the Council, what they do?’
Answer ‘The Cabinet set the policies for them to implement, for instance with the recycling issue we have had to specify eight new collection lorries, what colour the sacks and vessels will be. The officers then carry out the policy and order the necessary equipment; we consult with the officers during the process of deciding policy’
A resident said ‘As a Council, you do not seem to have sold the Cabinet to the public. Nobody has a good word to say according to all the editors in the local press. Did we have a choice whether or not to have a Cabinet?’
Answer ‘Yes there was a choice’
The resident went on to say ‘People are cross at delays and a lack of decisions, I have lived here for two periods, first in the 50’s and then since the 80’s. There is now all this graffiti and litter but it is difficult to get someone to do something about it’
Answer ‘We are bad at publicising the good things that we do, for instance, Conwy were first to decide that leisure facilities should be free to children during holiday periods, it was our idea but it was taken and heralded by the National Assembly as their idea’
A resident asked ‘On the matter of refuse, whose job is it to look at things and get things done? If I were to look at Rhos, Colwyn Bay and Old Colwyn, Old Colwyn is always left out, it is the last to get renovation with the Promenade and the railings’.
Answer ‘That is because they are moving towards Old Colwyn, with the cycle track for instance.’
A resident stated ‘There are rubbish bins on the streets that are not emptied regularly, this affects people daily’.
Answer ‘You will remember that we originally had our own Council workers. The Tories insisted that we submitted all our contracts to Compulsory Competitive Tendering which we did. We formed our own companies who tendered and won the contracts. This was finally wound up last year and was found to be £4.2 million overspent. We did away with the private company and found that they had not been managed properly. Records had not been kept. For instance we do not know what litter bins we have got, where they are and when they should be emptied.
We also do not know where the benches are or how many we have.
There were 15 refuse collection rounds and they are not written down anywhere, over time they have been added to considerably and the operatives have managed the situation. The situation is not as good on the Conwy side of the river.
We are in the process of harmonising contracts so that wherever you live you get the same service.
A resident asked ‘There is dog dirt everywhere, who is responsible for it being left in there? The street cleaners don’t pick it up.
Answer from Mr Perry ‘The Warden picks it up; I spend a lot of time picking up dog dirt’
Answer from Mr Cossey ‘We are running a pilot scheme in Environmental Services we have 4 men who are called Environmental Operatives. It is their job to be the eyes and ears of the Council. Chris Perry is the operative for Old Colwyn. If there is a drain blocked for instance, it is his job to ring the Department concerned.
A resident stated ‘The trees in Wynn Gardens overhang the road considerably and the road cleaner cannot get down so the road does not get cleaned’.
A resident stated ’There are overhanging branches on the corner of Endsleigh Road where there used to be a bungalow. My husband is blind and we cannot get past on the pavement’.
A resident asked ‘What about policing under the Cabinet system? You have a member who is also a member of the Police Authority. Is he accountable to the Council? Do they question him about matters concerning the police authority?
Answer ‘They don’t do so at the moment, but there is a scrutiny committee called the Principle Scrutiny Committee which has the authority to ask the Chief Constable to answer to them.
The resident went on to question about the amount that the police precept has increased in relation to the Council Tax.
Answer ‘Once they have set the Police Precept and it has been approved by the Police Authority, the only part that we play is in collecting the tax’.
Secretary asked ‘One of our members has asked a written question which generally falls into the area of registration of Houses of Multiple Occupation, could you please tell us about that issue’.
Answer ‘This started in Old Colwyn from the 1 st August 2003; all owners of HMO’s have to register with the Council. If they fail to register, we will prosecute them. They have to pay a fee for registration and Council Officials will inspect every room.
The secretary further asked, ‘Our member brought up the issue of the Residents Committee writing direct to landlords, how do we find out the name and address to write to if we so decide?
The secretary continued, ‘If we have a problem that we have to advance on behalf of a member, it is unacceptable to have to go to the Land Registry. Can we have an avenue via a Councillor?’
Answer ‘Yes the answer is to get in touch with your local Councillor and have the Councillor make enquiries on your behalf. The reason that we cannot pass information to you direct is because of the Data Protection Act.
Chris Perry said, ‘The registration system of HMOs does not apply to house where each part of the house has its own front door.
Councillor David Cowans said, ‘The Police will in future be accountable to the Local Community instead of to the Police Authority when new laws are enacted that are being considered.
Councillor Trevor Jones raised the issue of the Promenade and cycle track from the pier to Old Colwyn. He described the uncut grass as a disgrace for an area which is trying to attract visitors. He realised that this was now classed as a ‘garden of bio-diversity’. In reality it looks uncared for considering it is the promenade in the height of summer.
The promenade in Llandudno by comparison is neatly manicured with flowers. Once again he said, Old Colwyn is the poor relation.
He stated that he had sent a letter to Mr Brunstrom over the state of the police gardens and had been informed that that is a garden of bio-diversity, left to attract flowers that used to colonise the area.
He asked ’Is it going to be cut?’
Mr Cossey answered‘Yes, it will be cut in September to find out what wildlife is there’
A resident asked, ‘Old Colwyn used to be covered by a blue flag but now there is no blue flag just a plaque, why?
Answer The reason is that Old Colwyn beach is not classified as a public beach, it is classed as a rural beach, and therefore it is not covered by a flag which is for public beaches.
There was then a description of the fact that there had been significant massive losses of public money in Colwyn during the last four years which the Cabinet are bringing under control.
There was a waste of money and poor service delivery. Much work is taking place in the harmonisation of contracts. There was significant resistance to change from some council officers and people have left the service of the council as a result.
Mr Cossey described the Waterfront Strategy from Old Colwyn point of view, it was not being left out of the strategy, there were plans for a café /restaurant and new toilets at the Hammerhead (end of Prom).
They were now waiting for objections to be sorted out by Rhos on Sea before moving on, there had he said been plans to develop the Cayley Prom as a sailing club area, taking the traffic over the top of the Cayley but that had met with resistance.
Trevor Jones then said ‘The people responsible for mistakes have gone, things can only get better but why did they go with massive payoffs.
Answer ‘This did not happen, that is hearsay’
A resident said ‘I appreciate the difference that Mr Perry is making in Old Colwyn, things are much better’
Councillor Glyn Jones then asked Constable Roscoe if she could visit the liquor off-licences and tell them the problems that Old Colwyn was experiencing. She indicated that she would do so.
He said that a Local Action Team will happen in Old Colwyn.
Chris Perry said that residents groups should be asking the council to provide facilities for young people to use.
A resident said that in her experience with her young son, they did not want organised activity, just somewhere that they could go, such as the coffee bars that used to exist.
A resident said that there was supposed to be a youth club at Rose Hill but she believed nothing was happening.
Answer ‘It opens twice a week’
Councillor Cossey then pointed to the fact that the MASE (Music and Sound Experience) will be opening in the United Reform Church, Berthes Road, after Christmas. In response to a question on the issue he added that a large proportion of the money had gone into soundproofing the building to prevent noise pollution.
